POLITICAL

DYNASTY
Jacqueline Tolentino
BEED-2

Mrs. Nerissa Palafox

Instructor
Political dynasties have long been present in the Philippine political structure. They are
typically found in elite families that have established themselves in a province before moving on
to the national government. Political dynasties, therefore, usually have a strong support base.
Members of such dynasties are also not limited to the politics, as they can also be active in socio-
economic spheres.
Political dynasties started emerging after the Philippine Revolution when the First Republic of
the Philippines was established. Over the years, newer dynasties emerged as some of the initial
ones became inactive. Majority of the positions in the Philippine government are currently held
by members of political dynasties. Notable Philippine political dynasties include the Aquino and
Marcos families.

DEFINITION
 Refer to groups whose members are involved in politics. In the Philippines, political
dynasties can be seen in families that have been part of the government for several
generations.

THIS CAN OCCUR in TWO WAYS

1. For members of a family to occupy a same certain government position in every term. If
a politician's term is over and a relative of that politician gets elected for the same
position, that family can be labeled as a political dynasty.

2. For a number of family members to occupy government positions at the same time. As of
the moment, there are no legal documents or laws that officially define a political dynasty
in the Philippines. There have been bills that attempt to define a political dynasty such as
the Anti-Dynasty Bill.

PHILIPPINE LAWS
The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines states in Article II Section 26, "The State shall
guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as
may be defined by law."

The nearest mention of political dynasties in Philippine law can be seen in Republic Act 7160 or
the Local Government Code, where Book I, Title Two, Chapter 1, Section 43 states the term
limit of any local government official but does not include any limitations in terms of family
relations.
 STATISTICS OF PHILIPPINE POLITICAL DYNASTIES
In a study done in 2012 by economists Beja, Mendoza, Venida, and Yap, it was estimated that
40% of all provinces in the Philippines have a provincial governor and congressman that are
related in some way. Another 2014 study done by Querubin of the Department of Politics in New
York University indicated that an estimate 50-70% of all politicians are involved or associated in
a political dynasty within the Philippines, including local government units. In the same study, it
was concluded that approximately 70% of all jurisdiction-based legislators in the current
Congress are involved in a political dynasty, with 40% of them having ties to legislators who
belonged to as far as 3 Congresses prior. It is also said that 77% of legislators between the ages
of 26-40 are also dynastic, which indicates that the second and third generations of political
dynasties in the Philippines have begun their political careers as well.
In order to analyze patterns of political dynasties within the 15th Congress, categories
were formed according to the number of familial ties each politician had to politicians belonging
to previous Congresses:

Category 1: Those with ties to the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Congress as well as at least one
family member elected into a local government unit between the years 2001 and 2010

Category 2: Those with familial connections to at least one person belonging to the 12th, 13th, or
14th Congress

Category 3: Those who share kinship with at least one person belonging to the 12th, 13th, or
14th dynasty, or at least one relative with a local government unit (LGU) position from the 2001,
2004, or 2007 elections.

Category 4: Those with at least one relation in the 12th, 13th, or 14th Congress or holding a local
government unit (LGU) position in the elections in between 2001 and 2010
In a population of 229 legislators in the 15th Congress, 155 of them are classified as belonging to
the fourth category. Of those 155, 144 of them also belong to the third category. 84 of the 144
belong in the second category, and of the 84, 10 belong to the first category.

CRITICAL RECEPTION
 Various writers wrote articles that analyze and critique politicians that fall under the
domain of a political dynasty. Often, these articles hold these said persons and families in
a critical light. Although political dynasties have already been present in the Philippines
for a significant period of time, the public has only recently started clamoring for a
change in system. The public support for the bill against political dynasties has steadily
increased because the president, while part of a dynasty himself, fully supports the
passage of the Anti-Dynasty Bill. In a provincial scale, political dynasties are often held
in higher regard- contrasted with dynasties that oversee a wider public, where reception is
 mostly negative. A study that used empirical data correlated political dynasty presence
with socio-economic development. This study stated that "this partial correlation
coefficient finds a positive relationship between poverty incidence and the proportion of
political dynasties in each province." Although the study found a correlation, this does
not determine whether it is a causal relationship since poverty is multifaceted.

INFLUENCE
 NEGATIVE INFLUENCE
 One of the notable influences of political dynasties is a political "Carnegie
Effect", named after Andrew Carnegie. The "Carnegie Effect" is based on Carnegie’s
decision to give all his wealth to non-family members, where he argues that his son might
have less incentive of working hard if he were to be assured of his father’s wealth. This
can also be attributed to dynastic politicians. According to an empirical survey, dynastic
politicians have a significant advantage from the start of their career. They have a
statistically higher probability to win elections as compared to non-dynastic politicians.
Dynastic politicians also have generally lower educational attainment which is inversely
related to their rank in their political dynasties. There are also claims regarding economic
inequalities arising from political dynasties. This is allegedly due to political dynasties
having economic power along with their political power while a relative is in office.
Another negative effect of political dynasties is that it may restrict significant change to
the system of the government unit, since dynasties would rather stick to tried and true
methods of governing rather than try to effect change. Also, dynasties prevent new
candidates from occupying new seats of power; leading to less new ideas and platforms
to work with.

 POSITIVE INFLUNCE
 Political dynasties also have extra incentive to develop their own jurisdictions.
Based on the notion of "Roving Bandits vs. Stationary Bandits", dynastic politicians are
more likely to pursue developments since they expect to be in office for longer. Unlike
non-dynastic politicians who have less incentive to develop due to their limited term,
political dynasties can gain benefits either directly or indirectly through their
relatives. Political dynasties are also responsible for the increase in women’s political
participation in politics. Female politicians hailing from political dynasties can easily get
into politics due to their connections. Political dynasties have the advantage of continuity.
The more control the family has over the government unit, the more members of the
family can occupy positions of power. Political dynasties can use this continuity by
promoting and enacting laws and ordinances that are long term in nature; with only a slim
chance of other candidates outside of the dynasty interfering with the plans.

"NOTABLE PHILIPPINE" POLITICAL DYNASTIES

 Ampatuan  Marcos
 Aquino  Roxas
 Estrada
 REFLECTION

For decades, talk regarding political offshoots has been going on for decades. And after
decades and decades of botched attempt on clearly defining what a ‘political dynasty’ is, this
predicament led me to ask: Is this something permissible, alarming, or should it be accepted as
part of the Filipino political culture?

When we say political dynasty it refers to groups or families with a legacy of public
srvice that is usually crop up from a good forerunner who is loved by his or her constituents.
After the forerunner’s term, it is then ‘passed on’ to other members of the family reminiscent of
empires where there is a succession of hereditary rulers. While this trend is not unique to
Philippine politics, this phenomenon is widely evident in this democracy of ours. Flicking
through the list of the senatoriables and other aspiring politicians would let you know what I
mean.
In Article II, Section 26 states that: “The state shall guarantee equal access to public service and
prohibit political dynasty as may be defined by law.”

A much less skill in statutory construction is needed to infer the provision’s gist: The
clear intent of the framers of the Constitution is to prohibit political dynasties and it is the duty of
our law-making bodies to define the same. The Congress is given the discretion in defining
political dynasty but not the discretion on when to enact the same. Various anti-political dynasty
bills were introduced in the Congress time and again but those were simply set aside and
forgotten to be pushed through. We still don’t have enabling laws up to this point that prohibit
individuals from the same family or clan to run for an elective position despite the explicit
clamor of charter.

On the other hand, pro-political dynasties (apparently composed of people from those
political families) contend that it is not about the number of politicians from the same clan but
their integrity and track record in public service. “It would be better to have a family of
politicians in the government with clean track record than a single government official who is so
corrupt”, says Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, in an AksyonTV interview. “It would be wrong or
unfair for them to say that they are against all dynasties”, he adds. The son of the former
statesman Renator Cayetano has a point. His sister, Senator Pia Cayetano would also concede, I
suppose.
In order to win, a lot of means are employed to secure the elective posts. The use of
violence and overspending are just two of the strategies most political empires utilize. This legal
loophole allowed most of these powerful families to abuse their authority and waylay a locality’s
resources.
 Well, you may ask how the party-list system is faring. A party-list that has a system of
proportional representation in which voters choose among parties representating marginalized
sectors, should help offset the dynasty-dominated Congress but they don’t. Instead of counter-
acting with the evils of the political dynasties, the party-lists became another avenue for those
former politicians to “serve for life”. We rarely see people from the farming sector, the fisheries
sector, the laborers, or from the teachers; we instead see leaders from same political families.

A careful scrutiny of the political parties would help us understand that democracy is
absent in these political parties. The center of our parties are ‘leaders’ coming from political
families themselves. Clearly, electoral and political party reforms are needed. We need a wiser
electorate that would revolutionize the landscape of Philippine politics coupled with the guidance
of our statutes.

But at the end of the day, it is ultimately the Filipino people who will decide if we will
deem certain families as simply “political dynasties” or “families with a legacy of public
service”. Still, the coming elections are reflections of the cultural value of close family ties… as
evidenced by their political ‘family reunions’.